Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1028 1023 [Immigrants’ Nostalgia]

The general of Sichuan is Lin Chong.

He originally led troops in Chengdu, and stayed in Hunan after defeating Zhong Xiang. In the past few years, he was transferred to eastern and southern Sichuan. Only in the past two years did he return to Chengdu to command the entire Sichuan.

Lin Chong and the officials of the three Sichuan departments were both happy and worried when they received the order from the imperial court.

The good news is that one can fight in battles and make achievements, and even civil servants who help with logistics can achieve political achievements.

What is worrying is that not only do we have to fight wars, but we also have to relocate the people and change the lands into Han people!
In some places it is possible, in some places it is difficult.

Take Zhizhou for example. It was said to be a vassal state, but in fact it was only a small area in the western mountainous area of ​​Maoxian County in later generations. The mountains were high and the valleys were deep, the land was barren, and there were even snow-capped mountains all year round. It was difficult for the Han people to farm there.

Lü Benzhong, the Left Governor of Sichuan, said: "There are three chieftains in Zhizhou, Zhi Yongshou, Tang Junyan and Dong Chengyou. The court said that the Dong family should be exterminated, so we should exterminate Dong Chengyou, and Zhi Yongshou and Tang Junyan should still be suppressed and pacified. The same method should be adopted for other vassal areas that are difficult to immigrate and cultivate. Kill some and subdue others."

"But the imperial court wants to convert all the natives into officials," said Lin Chong.

Lu Benzhong shook his head: "Luoyang is thousands of miles away. The officials in the court only know the general situation, not the specific situation there. Even we have only recently asked for more complete and detailed information from merchants and captives."

"We should still explain it to the court," said Right Provincial Governor Zhan Shangzhi.

Lu Benzhong said: "We don't have much time this year. We should send troops and report at the same time. We should attack the places where the land reform can be carried out first, as those places have more convenient transportation. The places where the land reform cannot be carried out are all mountainous and dangerous, so we can leave them alone for the time being and wait for the court's approval before taking action."

Lin Chong thought this made sense, and immediately called in the merchants from Maozhou and the captives from the foreign tribes, inquiring about the situation in detail before formulating a plan to send troops.

Since the duties of civil officials and military officers are clearly divided, there is no longer a situation where the civil and military officials check and balance each other and hold each other back. Instead, the civil and military officials each perform their duties and work together to gain merit and political achievements.

As soon as the scorching hot summer days were over, Lin Chong personally led his troops to war.

He only took 6,000 field troops and 10,000 garrison troops with him, and then rushed towards Maozhou.

With these 16,000 troops, the barbarians in Maozhou could be defeated several times, which was a bit like using a butcher knife to kill a chicken. However, the number of troops sent out could not be reduced. After taking down a stronghold, people had to be left to defend it, and then guard the immigrants to build villages and organize militias, so that the Han people could protect themselves before they could withdraw the troops.

The armories of various prefectures in Sichuan took out all the old equipment.

While Lin Chong led his troops to war, Sichuan Commander Luo Bingzhong was also busy.

He could not wait for the landless peasants to apply for conscription, and ordered the conscription agencies in Mianzhu, Deyang, Long'an and other counties to forcibly draft men according to the conscription files of previous years. Farmers with more than five male adults who did not separate their families had to draft one able-bodied man under the age of 25 to be an immigrant.

Emperor Zhu found it difficult to recruit immigrants, but for local civil and military officials it was not a problem at all!
Under the pretext of training militia, they forcibly conscripted men and reorganized them, and then sent them to fight in places where immigrants were needed. After the war, they stayed there and were settled down, given land and registered. Those who had wives and children brought them over, and those who didn't had wives married local women - the male members of the barbarian chief's family were killed, so there would be many women left for marriage.

This approach can be easily accomplished as long as the local civil and military officials cooperate well.

Sichuan had been peaceful for 20 years, and a large number of young and strong people had grown up. Families with too many males were everywhere, so taking one male off was nothing.

Except for the people who were drawn who might have objections, even their brothers would probably agree, because they could get a resettlement allowance and there would be one less brother to fight for the family property!
This is what Lin Chong did in eastern and southern Sichuan.

The southern part of Luzhou, the Nanguan tribe (Yunlian), Zizhou (Xishui), Yelang, the northern part of the Luoshi barbarians (Xuyong and Gulin), the northern part of the Mahu tribe (Mabian and Suijiang)... a total of more than 60,000 men were deceived and thrown into those places on the pretext of training militia for combat.

In addition to their wives and children, as well as exiled criminals, the entire southern Sichuan region has been crammed with more than 100,000 Han Chinese in the past decade!

The weaker Nanguang tribe, which was the Yunlian area, was driven back to the mountains. They wanted to take back the land under the mountains, but every time they went down the mountains to plunder, they were defeated by the Han immigrants.

Because before those Han people immigrated, they were all properly trained militiamen, and were provided with leather armor, swords, guns, and bows and arrows!

All the newly emerging villages in southern Sichuan have their own villages.

Even during the busy farming season, people would be deployed to stand guard in the nearby mountains.

Although these places are remote and poor, the education is very advanced. Almost every new village has a prison official, who teaches children to read, and the villagers help them farm. These prison officials are also responsible for making decisions when major events occur.

In another ten or twenty years, when the children of these immigrants and convicted officials have grown up, at least ten more counties can be established in southern Sichuan - some of these counties may even be located in the territories of Yunnan and Guizhou in later generations.

Since defeating Zhong Xiang, Lin Chong has not had any spectacular military achievements.

However, he teamed up with Sichuan civil officials to violate regulations and actually expanded the territory.

The violation was real and was kept secret from the court.

They firmly refused to admit that they had forcibly conscripted men, saying that they all volunteered to migrate. As long as they could suppress the counterattack of the barbarian tribes and avoid large-scale deaths of immigrants, Sichuan's civil and military officials could continue to improve their political achievements and military merits!
These guys even developed a process and are constantly improving it.

Some civil and military officials from Sichuan were transferred to other provinces and brought this set of procedures with them.

For example, Hunan and Guangxi have also started to follow suit in recent years. However, their capital is not as strong as that of Sichuan. To put it bluntly, they do not have sufficient population to support them, so they can only implement it in a small way.

Are the censors who tour around the country aware of this violation?
know!

But they all chose to conceal it.

Of course, they followed the procedures this time. Emperor Zhu said that at least 5,000 people would be immigrated, so those guys directly recruited 6,000 militiamen. Many of them were married, and they would bring their wives and children with them. Including the children, it is estimated that more than 10,000 people could be immigrated.

……

Xiong Yangzu is eighteen years old and his native place is Xiaoquan Town, Mianzhu County.

His ancestors were also a large family, and they had not divided the family for a long time. So his identity was very strange. His family seemed to be powerful, but the ordinary members of the family were no different from tenants.

God had mercy on them, and the imperial court ordered the big families to split up.

The Xiong family of Mianzhu pretended to obey but secretly disobeyed for several years until the Jiangxi clan demolition incident became a big deal, and the Sichuan government also took real action. They sent troops directly to various prefectures and counties, forcibly splitting up the clans one by one, and Xiong Yangzu's father even got the clan land.

Unfortunately, there is not much land, only a few dozen acres.

There are parents, grandfather, three older brothers, a younger brother and a younger sister in the family. The brothers have married and had children.

The dozens of acres of land we were allocated were not enough for food.

One brother went to the county town to work.

One of the brothers, in addition to farming, occasionally went to help out in the oil refinery in town.

My father and grandfather both knew how to weave bamboo strips, and my mother and sisters-in-law raised silkworms and wove cloth, and they were able to make a living by renting a few acres of land.

Xiong Yangzu even studied in a village school for three years, but unfortunately his mediocre qualifications meant he had no hope of passing the imperial examination, so he dropped out after learning a few daily words.

Just after the rice harvest this year, officials suddenly came into the village.

The officials left some resettlement money and took away several men in the village, Xiong Yangzu being one of them.

Xiong Yangzu was taken northward in a daze. Other men joined him along the way, and they finally settled down in an unknown mountain village.

Many officers came, were given weapons and armor, and then began training.

Flags, orders, and formations are all simplified and quick-made versions.

Since Xiong Yangzu had studied for three years and was physically strong, he was made the team leader of the Mandarin Duck Formation. He was not only given a spear, but also a crossbow.

After the two-month intensive militia training, Xiong Yangzu was taken to Maozhou.

He soon saw a captured village with hundreds of dried human heads hanging on it.

An officer came riding up and said to the general leading the militia: "Why did you come so late? Leave 500 people here and choose the land for yourselves. The rest will be divided into three groups and dispersed to various places to settle and cultivate the land!"

Five hundred militiamen stayed behind, and there were also dozens of regular soldiers who temporarily guarded the village together with the militiamen.

I heard that the bandit chieftain in this area has not been completely eliminated, and has fled into the mountains with a small number of remaining soldiers. They may sneak back and attack the village at any time.

Before the snow falls in winter, you must be prepared.

After the snowfall, you have to be more careful. The bandits are freezing in the mountains and are likely to venture out to rob.

Only after this winter, when many of the remaining bandits are frozen or starved to death, will the potential threat next year be smaller.

Xiong Yangzu continued to march with his troops. On the way, they encountered several breached villages, which also had dried heads hanging on them, and some militiamen were left behind.

In late autumn, Xiong Yangzu came to a place called Hengzhou, which was more than a hundred miles north of Wenchuan County - only twenty miles in a straight line. It was later called Bazhou Town, which was Dong Yanbo's old nest.

The Dong family has been running this place for hundreds of years, accumulating countless treasures and building a stone castle.

He was unwilling to give up his family property and flee into the mountains, and actually chose to defend the city to the death!

Lin Chong divided his troops along the way and fought with only 6,000 main forces by his side.

There were seven or eight thousand barbarian soldiers scattered around the Dong family castle and the nearby mountains, many of whom were barbarians who had escaped from other places and were chased all the way by Lin Chong's army to join Dong Yanbo.

The day after Lin Chong led his army to arrive, Dong Yanbo sent his son Dong Cunzhi out of the city to seek peace.

When Dong Cunzhi saw Lin Chong, he knelt down and said, "General Lin, I am willing to surrender. I don't want my official position or reward anymore. From now on, I will obey the court and never betray again."

Lin Chong, with a full beard, stared at Dong Cunzhi and sneered, then spat out two words: "Kill him."

Several bodyguards raised their guns and stabbed Dong Cunzhi. Before Dong Cunzhi could react, there were already several bloody holes on his body.

The mountain road was difficult to travel, so Lin Chong only brought a few cannons.

Moreover, his troops were divided into various places, and he currently only had two gates left.

"Boom boom boom!"

Two cannons bombarded the stone castle, and the barbarians inside cried out in panic.

A barbarian chieftain named Luo Quanli said in horror: "It was this kind of cannon that could produce thunder that destroyed the wall of my village in just half a day. I was so scared that I quickly fled from the back mountain and managed to save my life with great difficulty!"

Dong Yanbo stood there in amazement, unable to utter a word.

He has been living in the mountains and has been isolated from the news.

After surrendering to the Ming Dynasty, the Sichuan Provincial Governor asked them to send their son to Chengdu to study, but he refused with various excuses and was unwilling to contact the outside world. He didn't even know that the Ming army had artillery.

The development of the matter was completely beyond Dong Yanbo's expectations.

Not only did the Ming court not negotiate peace and offer rewards, but it sent a large army to attack.

These Ming troops were so powerful that the chieftains of the various tribes did not even have time to gather their troops before more than a dozen of their strongholds were destroyed one after another.

Five days ago, he set an ambush on the road.

Unexpectedly, due to the dangerous terrain, the Ming army actually sent out a mountain search team to explore the way, forcing Dong Yanbo to launch an attack in advance.

The Ming army soldiers marched in a long line in the valley and formed small teams as quickly as possible. The troops wearing leather armor were responsible for providing cover, while the rest of the soldiers put on iron armor as quickly as possible. They not only quickly repelled Dong Yanbo's surprise attack, but also formed a formation to counterattack and chase him to the top of the mountain.

Dong Yanbo was stunned on the spot. The Ming army had a strange team formation that could even be formed when attacking mountains.

His troops were in disarray, but fortunately the mountains were high and the forests were dense, so he was able to escape quickly because he was familiar with the terrain.

"We can't let the enemy keep thundering (bombarding). The warriors are almost scared out of their wits. We must charge out and fight immediately!" suggested a chief who had escaped from somewhere else.

Dong Yanbo hesitated for a moment and finally decided to give it a try.

If the Ming army continued to bombard him, his castle, although strong, could only last for two or three days at most.

Inside the castle, on the mountains on both sides, thousands of barbarians attacked from three sides.

They were in disarray and had no formation. Calling them an army was an overstatement. These guys hadn't fought a proper battle for hundreds of years.

During the Xining period, the barbarians from various vassal states joined forces to fight, but were defeated by a group of militia led by the governor Fan Baichang. Then the barbarians gathered more barbarian soldiers to besiege the city, but Fan Baichang defended the low and dilapidated Maozhou City to the death, and even held out until the Shaanxi border troops were transferred to Sichuan for rescue.

A group of guys with extremely low combat effectiveness!
Xiong Yangzu and some militiamen happened to watch the entire battle.

They hid behind the regular troops, also picking up weapons and waiting for orders, but their help was not needed at all.

The regular army's mandarin duck formation was seen with musketeers firing freely, with sporadic barbarians being shot and falling along the way. The barbarians finally managed to get close, but they could not break the firearm version of the mandarin duck formation at all.

After only a few minutes of hand-to-hand combat, seven or eight groups of barbarians fled one after another.

"kill!"

The Ming regular army suddenly counterattacked, and the barbarian soldiers suffered a great defeat.

Xiong Yangzu also wanted to chase them with a spear, but the officer leading them shouted, "Don't move. These are General Lin's elite troops. We must not steal their military achievements!"

Xiong Yangzu looked at the spear in his hand and then at the fleeing barbarians.

It seems that fighting is easy and I am not here to die.

The bandit leader Dong Yanbo finally escaped. He fled at the moment of his defeat, taking his family and a group of personal soldiers into the mountains.

There are mountains all around, it's impossible to catch it!

Dong Yanbo’s idea was very simple, he would come back after the Ming army left.

Although his place had never been breached, the Song army had breached other strongholds before, but they would loot and withdraw before winter.

Sure enough, the Ming army left quickly.

But it was the main force of the Ming army that left. Since this place was Dong Yanbo's old nest, Lin Chong left behind three hundred garrison troops and eight hundred militiamen.

Dong Yanbo could only continue to hide in the mountains.

Xiong Yangzu was left here, and the officers took them to select land and properties, and from time to time they went to the nearby mountains in groups to familiarize themselves with the terrain.

The officer in charge of them said:

"For those who have wives and children, the government will bring them here next year. For those who are still single, go and pick one from the captured barbarian women. As long as you think you can afford it, each person can pick up to two."

"Next spring, the government will send us farm tools, oxen and seeds."

"You eight hundred militiamen, disperse to the nearby river valleys. Every hundred people form a village, and each village is given four oxen. The villagers' houses should not be too far apart, so that it will be easier to deal with the enemy. I will teach you how to build simple towers, which can be quickly built with bamboo. Build several in each village, and immediately run to the nearest tower when you encounter the enemy."

"As for the barbarians who were not executed, the government will take some away to mine, freeing up more land for you. The rest will be transferred with other tribes so that the barbarian chieftains who fled into the mountains can no longer gather their old subordinates."

"Remember, there are still bandits who have escaped into the mountains, and they may come out at any time. You must be careful at all times!"

"I will be here with you for half a year. After half a year, everything will depend on you."

"Your land will be tax-free for five years and tax-free for three and a half years. In the future, the court will exile criminals here and open a village school to teach your children. Maybe a top scholar will emerge here."

"Once the post station is built, you can write letters to your family and deliver them to the postman. For five years, the postman will deliver letters to you for free..."

At dusk, the autumn wind is bleak.

Xiong Yangzu sat in an unfamiliar valley, looking at the unfamiliar mountains opposite, as if he was having a big dream.

From childhood to adulthood, he has only been to Mianzhu County twice, and usually stays in the village or town.

I was forcibly conscripted into the militia without knowing why, and I settled down here without knowing why.

I chose a barbarian woman as my wife yesterday, and I guess I will spend the rest of my life here.

He misses home very much!

(End of this chapter)